How to Get Albertans Back to Work

– I have a question for
you, fellow Albertans: Are you better off than
you were four years ago? – [Crowd] No! – That’s the key question for Albertans as we approach an historic election. And for ordinary Albertans,
the answer clearly is no, they’re not better off today
than they were four years ago. Today, I will lay out why
Albertans are worse off today than they were four years
ago and what change, what kind of change we need
to get Alberta back to work. I’ll show how the NDP has
done such deep damage to jobs, our economy, and our way of life, how they’ve made it tougher
for so many families, how their policies have
driven up unemployment, bankruptcies, taxes, and debt
while driving down incomes, investment, housing prices, and jobs. The NDP came to office with a
lotta promise four years ago. Albertans wanted change at the time. They were tired of entitlement and many voters were
willing to take a chance on a new direction. At the beginning, Albertans gave this government
the benefit of the doubt, and rightly so. After all, the NDP were new, they inherited some tough
challenges, and they meant well. But gradually, what Albertans
saw was a government that made decisions based on ideology instead of common sense, a government that thought
it could tax, borrow, and regulate its way to prosperity, a government that made a
bad situation much worse. It’s true that when the NDP came to office Alberta was in a recession that began with a drop
in commodity prices, but they didn’t get a basic
rule of economic policy. First, do no harm. Instead of trying to help employers who were struggling to keep the lights on, they hit them with a 20% increase in their tax burden on day one. Instead of lowering costs for families that were coping with
unemployment and lower paychecks, the NDP raised the cost of everything from home heating to groceries
with their carbon tax. Instead of encouraging
investors to come to Alberta, the NDP drove them away with the uncertainty of a royalty review, a lawsuit against power producers, massive new red tape and regulations, and making a doomed alliance with Justin Trudeau on pipelines. On top of all of that, they
increased WCB payroll taxes. They helped their ally, Justin Trudeau, raise CPP payroll taxes by
$1,600 a year on average families when it’s gonna be fully implemented. They increased provincial
property taxes by $350 million, hitting struggling homeowners and small businesses when
they could least afford it. They increased income tax
brackets by as much as 50%, driving investment out of our province. They hiked power prices and made a costly shambles of
the power purchase agreements, which will cost consumers
billions of tax dollars and higher power rates
over the decade to come. They raised labor costs on struggling small businesses by 50% in the middle of a recession when people were losing their jobs. They imposed massive
layers of new red tape, rules, and regulations. And, as I said, they made an
alliance with Justin Trudeau that gave him permission
to kill Northern Gateway and Energy East, surrender
to a US veto on Keystone XL, fail to stand up to
obstructionism on Trans Mountain, and to introduce his
no-more-pipelines acts, Bill C-48 and C-69. It wasn’t too long ago, friends, that the idea of the Alberta Advantage meant this province’s
competition edge on tax policy, regulatory policy, and other areas. These deliberate policy choices that Albertans made in the past helped to make us the
best place in the country and one of the best places in the world in which to invest and do business. But sadly, it’s taken
the NDP just four years to undo the Alberta Advantage. Its anti-growth policies
have changed how business and investors think about our province. Consider that Alberta’s ranking in this, sorry, in the Fraser Institute Survey of Oil and Gas Executives on
the Global Investment Climate has taken us from the
14th-best place in the world in which to invest to the 43rd place. That’s not price, folks; that’s policy. And look at this map. Alberta is the only province
in the entire federation that gets a failing grade from the Federation of
Independent Business for its red tape burden. It is increasingly clear that businesses and investors see Alberta as high-cost, a high-regulation place. This perception is having
concrete consequences. But this is not merely a
perception, it’s a reality. Government policy is imposing huge costs on businesses and investors. A 2018 report by the C.D.
Howe Institute, for instance, estimated that total cost per oil well that stemmed from policies like royalties, taxes, and pipeline delays, it concluded that an Alberta oil well faces around $770,000
in policy-induced costs, about twice as much as
wells in competing US states like Texas, North Dakota, and Colorado. As the study’s author puts it,
“Governments should recognize “the cumulative competitiveness
cost of their policies.” You would think that this
advice would be common sense, but that’s not a quality
that’s been in very much supply around the NDP cabinet
table in recent years. One of the greatest sources
of policy-induced costs is our slow and cumbersome
regulatory process. Average timelines for oil
wells are now, on average, more than four times
longer here in Alberta than they are in
neighboring jurisdictions, like Saskatchewan and BC,
and in various US states. It’s just one example
of how the NDP’s agenda has made Alberta less competitive and less attractive to new
job-creating investment. As I said, these choices
have real consequences. One of the consequences of
these anti-growth policies is less growth. Alberta’s economy has shrunk, get this, has shrunk by 3% since
the NDP came to office. Let me repeat that. When the NDP came to office
with so much hope and promise, our provincial GDP, what
our economy produced, was $377 billion. But at the end of last year,
nearly four years later, our economy produced only $347 billion. We have literally gone backwards for four years under the NDP. Saskatchewan next door has
a similar economy to ours, by the way, similar dependence
on commodity prices; they’ve grown while we’ve shrunk. These US jurisdictions I’m talking about, as dependent on energy prices, they’ve grown massively with a boom while we’ve shrunk and stagnated. Circumstances don’t
look much better today. The so-called recovery of the NDP is a figment of their imagination. Unemployment has gone up in
six of the last eight months and University of Calgary
Professor Trevor Tombe has recently speculated that we are approaching
a second recession. I don’t need to tell people in this room about the negative relationship
between slow economic growth and falling business investment. It’s a negative feedback loop and we’re living it here
in the province today. As this slide shows, between the start of
2015 and the end of 2018, investment growth in
Alberta has fallen by 45%. Let me repeat that. We’ve seen business investment cut in half over the past three years under the NDP. This is a devastating,
job-killing reality. But as bad as it is, it doesn’t
even tell the full story. Drilling down a bit
into the investment data gives us a fuller picture
of what’s going on. If we remove rising government
spending on capital, the situation looks even
worse, as this slide shows. Capital investment in
oil and gas extraction, for example, has fallen by 61%. Wholesale and retail trade have also experienced a
65% drop in investment. So, again, this is not
just about one sector. The numbers look bad in
virtually every sector, except for government. We’re witnessing massive
capital flight from Alberta, and with that capital goes jobs. The NDP would have Albertans believe that this trend is outside of its control. It wants people to blame
anyone except their government. But here’s the problem: It’s
a hard argument to sustain when other oil- and
gas-producing jurisdictions are performing so much better. Capital spending on oil and
gas in the United States, for example, is now 70%
higher than here in Canada. Their oil and gas sector is booming; the opposite is true here. Here’s an example. This slide compares drilling
rig utilization in Alberta versus Texas between 2014 and last year. So, back in 2014, Texas faced
similar headwinds to us, same price problems, but
its drilling activities are now back to 90% of its 2014 levels. Our industry, by contrast, is still stuck at 40% utilization. The tale of two jurisdictions. Office vacancies in Calgary
and Edmonton is another measure of the province’s ongoing
economic decline under the NDP. Calgary’s vacancy rate has
actually gone up year-over-year for the past three years and
is north of 25%, as you know. Edmonton’s is only slightly better, but it too is going in
the wrong direction. The vacancy rate in Edmonton has gone up 70% in the past three years. And the housing market
isn’t faring much better. Last year, Calgary recorded
a 14% decline in home sales to its lowest level since the mid-1990s, and that means the life
savings of many families, many middle-class families,
is being depleted. Many other regions, including
Fort McMurray, Lloydminster, Northeastern Alberta,
and South Central Alberta have all reported sales activity for homes that are more than 18%
below the 10-year average. Slow growth and falling
business investment have predictably translated
into stagnant job growth. Albertans’ employment growth
over the past four years has been an anemic 1.7% and we now have the highest
unemployment in Canada outside the Atlantic region, with 170,000 Albertans looking for work. But again, the top-line number
does not tell the full story. Removing the increases
in government employment gives us a clearer picture
of where things stand. The truth isn’t good, as you can see here. Private sector employment
has actually shrunk by nearly 3% under the NDP. Let me put this in real numbers for you. We’ve lost 42,000 net private
sector jobs over this time while adding 62,000 net jobs
to the government sector. Folks, in the long run,
that’s just not sustainable. The province’s poor employment record, particularly in the private sector, has harmed younger workers. Many, far too many, are giving up. Alberta’s labor force participation rate, that’s the number of people
who choose to either, are looking for work or are working, the participation rate for
those aged between 15 and 24 was 69% when the NDP came to office, showing that young people
in Alberta wanted to work and they could. The national rate was
much lower than that. We’ve since flipped
with the rest of Canada. Today, Alberta’s rate has fallen to 62%, while the national rate is unchanged. This is a sign that we are
letting younger Albertans down. For no one is this more
true than young Alberta men. Their employment rates
have steadily declined from 67% before the NDP to 55% last fall. This huge drop stands in stark contrast with the Canada-wide experience, which has seen employment
rates for young men grow slightly over the same period. But here’s why I raise this, and this is really, I think, troubling: The employment rate for young Alberta men is at its lowest level
ever in economic history since StatsCan began keeping these numbers in the early-1960s. More generally, we’ve
observed longer and longer durations of employment for
those struggling to find work. The average duration before
the NDP was 14 weeks. And now, under the NDP, the average duration of
unemployment is 22 weeks. Yeah, people are waiting for
nearly six months to find work. And we’re now longer than
the average across Canada, which is unprecedented in our country’s modern economic history. Falling business investment and job growth have given us a drop in take-home pay. Here is where the costs
of the NDP’s failure really hits home. As this slide shows, the
province’s average weekly earnings have grown by less than 1%
since the NDP took office. But it’s another case where when you separate
out the government sector from the rest of the economy, it tells a more troubling story. Public sector wages are up by
an average of more than 3%, but private sector wages, which are for the vast
majority of Albertans, are down across the board. Let me put these figures into
real dollar terms for you. Those working in the oil
and gas sector, for example, have lost on average about $61 a week. Those in the utility sectors
have lost about $130 a week. Think of these bars as an illustration that monthly provincial payroll overall is down by nearly $2 billion. The upshot is that the average annual, and this is devastating, the average annual take-home
income of Albertans fell by 7.3% or nearly $6,400 for the average Alberta family
since the NDP came to office. If there’s one reason
alone why we need change and this government should
be replaced, it’s that. This is a huge financial burden
that is forcing Albertans to try to get by with less and less. Professor Tombe has calculated, based on StatsCanada data
released this morning, that compensation for
Alberta workers in Alberta is $5 billion less than it would have been had we continued with the
same kind of growth trends prior to the disaster of the NDP. The same data out today
shows that Albertans’ wages and salaries were down
again last year in 2018. So much for the NDP’s much-hyped recovery. And Professor Tombe goes
on to say, (laughing) in a classic economic
understatement, he says, “This does not typically
happen outside of a recession.” (audience laughing) Getting by with less has regrettably led to
a spike in bankruptcies and insolvencies in our province. This slide shows that bankruptcies are up by more than one-quarter
since the NDP took office. And the next slide shows
insolvencies have increased by more than 75% under the NDP. The NDP are also accumulating
debt at a dizzying pace. It’s remarkable when you think about it. Our province was debt-free
just five years ago, but now we’re poised to reach $95 billion in taxpayer-supported debt. Think of it this way: Under the NDP’s plan, Alberta’s
debt will amount to $89,000 for an average family of four. And if we continue at this pace, the gap between Alberta
and high-debt provinces like Ontario and Quebec
will soon disappear. We’re already spending
more on interest costs on today’s debt of $55 billion
than we spend to operate 19 of the 23 departments in
the government of Alberta. Once that debt takes over, less and less available
for schools and hospitals because more and more has to
go to bankers and bondholders. What’s driving this rising debt? Well, this slide shows us the answer: high and ongoing deficits. This week, Joe Ceci once again confirmed the government has no credible
plan to balance the budget. The deficit that began in 2015 will continue unabated under his watch. He tells Albertans to trust
him, but we know better. So do the credit rating agencies. They’ve downgraded the province’s
creditworthiness six times since Mr. Ceci became finance minister. And no wonder: Program
spending has climbed by more than 14% since
the NDP was elected. Alberta’s annual program spending growth has in fact been the highest in Canada for the past two years. You think that the province
with the largest deficit might think about trying to
manage its spending, but no; they’re going in the opposite direction. Large-scale spending growth is
frankly one of the few areas where the NDP can credibly claim to be leading Canada right now. (audience laughing) Alberta spending per
capita is now 14% higher than the average in the rest of Canada, and this is even starker
when we compare ourselves to our nextdoor neighbors in BC. As you know, they have
an older population, a bigger province to service, but Alberta spends 20%
more per person than BC. Now, I asked you, do you
think you’re better off today than you were four years
ago, and the answer was no. Let me ask you this: Do
you think we’re getting 20% better value than BC taxpayers? I don’t think Albertans find that. In fact, they have shorter
hospital wait times than we do for 20% less. And still, the NDP has
sought to raise taxes to pay for its insatiable spending. What’s ironic is that
the economic failures that I’ve been describing (laughing) stood in the way of their tax hikes. As part of the government’s
first budget back in 2015, the NDP enacted huge tax increases, which they told us would increase revenues by $6 billion over three years. Do you remember that? They were going to soak the rich and make these terrible
job-creators pay more. But what’s actually happened? Instead of $6 billion more in revenues, including personal and
corporate income taxes, we are down nearly $8.5 billion lower than the NDP projections over this period. Let us be clear with Albertans about this. The NDP raised the rates on personal and corporate
taxes based on a lie. They said they wanted to soak the rich, good old-fashioned socialist
politics of resentment, and what has happened? People have moved their
income out of this province, capital has fled, and revenues
from these tax sources have gone down year after year after year; less money, not more,
available for schools and hospitals and
critical public services. Bill Clinton used to say,
“One definition of insanity “is doing the same thing
over and over again, “expecting a different outcome.” Well, the NDP, they’ll
just keep raising taxes, expecting a different outcome, but economic history
teaches us differently. The key point here is that
Alberta’s economic woes are not an accident and are not just the result
of global commodity prices. They are in large part the
result of the actions and choices of this economically
incompetent NDP government. Its harmful policies
have led to slow growth, failing business investment, fewer jobs, lower take-home pay, and ultimately more
bankruptcies and insolvencies. And we must remember that
behind all of these numbers are real people’s lives. The NDP promised change, but
instead what they gave us is a record of economic failure, the worst economic
record of any government in the history of Alberta
since the Great Depression, an economy today that is smaller than it was when they came to office, incomes that are down by
$6,500 for average families, the massive flight of capital and jobs, taking what was once the most
competitive place in Canada and turned it into one of the least competitive
places in Canada, taken Canada’s great job creation engine and turned it into a period of prolonged stagnation and job loss. So, I painted a, let’s be honest, a negative picture here
today based on the facts, not opinions but data. But the truth is despite all of that, I’m an optimist and
Albertans are optimists, and there’s some good news. There’s a silver lining around
this cloud, and it’s this: that these circumstances
are not an accident. They are the result of choices, and so they can be fixed by other choices. They can be addressed by real change, but doing so will require
bold, decisive action. We will not bring back those lost jobs until we restore investor
confidence in our province. The empty office towers around us here in downtown Calgary
will not fill themselves. The fire sale of equipment
at Ritchie Brothers in Leduc won’t stop with government tinkering, more taxes, and red tape. We will not diversify our economy simply by having politicians
pick a few winners and losers with our tax dollars. We must unshackle our
economy from the uncertainty, the red tape, the endless delays, and the growing tax burden. As I’ve said before, there’s one thing that
we conservatives do hate: unemployment, and the corrosive effect that it has on people’s lives. A future conservative government will be obsessed with
bringing back investment, diversifying our economy,
and creating good jobs. And so, we will take immediate steps within days of being sworn in, should we earn a mandate from Albertans, to show Canada and the world that Alberta is open for business again. (audience applauding) Now, as you know, we’ve begun releasing elements
of our election platform, which will be a blueprint to build a strong and free Alberta. Today, I’m announcing that
at the heart of that platform will be our Alberta Job Creation Plan. It starts with Bill #1,
the Carbon Tax Repeal Act. Come on, this can’t be the first event that doesn’t get applause. (audience applauding) Sorry, I know I depressed all of you guys. Here’s the good part, okay? You can start applauding now. (audience laughing) Bill 2 will be the Open for Business Act that will cut red tape and
end job-killing policies. We will liberate job-creators by cutting Alberta’s red tape burden by at least one-third in our
first term of government. (audience applauding) We will impose legislative timelines to speed up project approvals
by government agencies so that they move at the
fastest pace in North America. (audience applauding) We will restore investors’
certainty by guaranteeing in law that the royalties in place when a well is permitted
will never change. (audience applauding) We will stop forcing higher
power prices on Albertans by ending uneconomic subsidies for unreliable forms of power. (audience applauding lightly)
Go ahead. (audience applauding) We will launch our Alberta
Advantage Immigration Program to attract brilliant entrepreneurs to innovate and create
cutting-edge startup businesses to create jobs here in Alberta. (audience applauding) And we will stand up to
those blocking our resources and demand a new deal for Alberta to secure pipelines and a
fair price for our energy. (audience applauding) The centerpiece, I’m
pleased to tell you today, the centerpiece of the
Alberta Job Creation Plan will be a Job Creation
Tax Cut on employers to get Albertans back to work. (audience applauding) I will be releasing details
about this on Monday. But today, let me say this: Alberta had the highest levels of growth, the highest incomes, the highest levels of employment
and investment for decades because we created the
right economic conditions. We had the lowest tax rates. That was at the heart
of the Alberta Advantage and it’s why businesses
small and large moved here. It’s why Imperial Oil and Canadian Pacific moved their headquarters
to Calgary in the 1990s, along with thousands of other companies. It’s why we ended up with
the second-largest number of corporate head offices in Canada. It’s why so many newcomers came here from across Canada and around the world, doubling our population
in the last four decades. But what do we see now? More vacant space around us than all of the downtown
office real estate that’s available in downtown Vancouver. Think about that for a second. Encana, one of Canada’s largest companies, has moved the majority of its assets and head-office functions from
Calgary to the United States. Last week, Devon Energy
joined a long and growing list of global companies pulling
up stakes and leaving Alberta. It’s estimated that some $50 billion of direct foreign investment
has moved from this province to lower-taxed jurisdictions
since the NDP came to office. And every day, I meet
small-business owners who tell me that they’re only hanging on, they’re only keeping their
doors open in the hope that there will be a change
of government this spring, and with it, change that
will turn the economy around. (audience applauding) Folks, we cannot continue like this. One of our core advantages was having the lowest tax
rate on job-creators at 10%. But since the NDP raised that by 20% to punish employers
because of their ideology, our business tax rate is
now higher than Quebec’s, it’s higher than Ontario’s, we have no advantage over
our neighboring provinces of BC and Saskatchewan. But more importantly, we
used to have a huge advantage over our southern neighbors with their 35% corporate tax rate, but the world changed last year with the US Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. Now, their average combined
federal/state tax rate on business is 25% lower than in Alberta. In fact, we have higher taxes on employers than 49 of the 50 US states. The bottom line is this: that business taxes in Alberta, as I say, are higher than in 49 of the 50 US states, and that’s before we even get into comparing personal income
taxes or the red tape burden. (laughing) To paraphrase Ross Perot, that giant sucking sound you hear is money and jobs moving from
Alberta to the United States. And the world is responding
to this new reality. According to Canada’s
leading tax policy expert, Professor Jack Mintz, “The IMF expects “the reductions in corporate
taxes amongst countries “will be on the radar,” excuse me, “will be on the order
of about four points. “Already, France is reducing its tax rate “from 33% to 25% by 2022. “The Australian government
has proposed reducing its rate “from 30% to 25%. “Sweden is cutting its
rate further to 20%.” Imagine that, socialist Sweden. Jack goes on to say, “Canada,
with a combined average “federal-provincial corporate
tax rate of close to 27%, “now has one of the highest rates “amongst the 33 developed
countries of the OECD. “If companies with US
operations plan to shift costs, “such as interest expense,
to other countries, “and to shift tangible
and intangible profits “to the United States, “then Canada is going to end up “as one of the biggest
victims of base erosion, “as our corporate tax rate is so high.” Speaking of Jack Mintz, he’s
the economist who predicted that the NDP’s plan to hike
taxes on businesses by 20% would kill jobs and reduce growth. The NDP didn’t listen to his warnings or those of other economists. They didn’t listen to the employers who actually create jobs in our economy. Why? Because of ideology and politics. Their ideology is informed by the belief that wealth can be redistributed without regard to its
creation in the first place. And their politics plays on
old class warfare resentments. Now, the NDP will say
that reducing the tax rate on job-creators will be, “A
giveaway to big corporations.” So, here’s the truth. 90% of businesses who pay the
so-called corporate income tax in Alberta are actually small
and medium-sized operations with less than 50 employees, the kinda mom-and-pop businesses that are the beating heart of our economy. The NDP will claim that
our Job Creation Tax Cut is, “regressive.” But a growing body of economic
research says the opposite. As University of Calgary economist Dr. Kenneth McKenzie has written, “Some recent econometric evidence “shows that lower corporate taxes “do lead to higher wages and salaries,” and, “this suggests
that corporate tax cuts “may actually be progressive.” Professors McKenzie and Ferede of U-of-C have written that higher taxes on business means lower pay for workers. Higher taxes, lower pay;
lower taxes, higher pay. They say, “Our computations suggest “that for every $1 increase
in corporate tax revenue “due to an increase in
provincial corporate tax rate, “the associated decrease in
aggregate wages ranges from, “up to,” excuse me, “$1.52 for Alberta.” Now, I don’t expect Joe
Ceci to grasp all of this, (audience laughing) simply because he’s got his mind made up. It’s made up by his ideology. But we believe in evidence-based policy, and the evidence tells us that the NDP’s reckless increase
on taxes on job-creators in the middle of the
recession decreased wages, decreased growth, and
decreased government spending. The NDP will also claim that
our Job Creation Tax Cut will reduce government revenue,
so I’ve been through this. The truth is that their 20% increase in the business tax rate has
resulted in lower revenues for four straight years. By contrast, and this is fascinating, by contrast, when Alberta
cut its business tax rate from 15.5% to 10% about 15 years ago, tax revenues actually grew by 80%. The NDP will also say that businesses will just hoard these profits and not reinvest in the economy. It’s like they learned economics by playing Monopoly or something. (audience laughing) But the research is clear: Raising business taxes
shrinks the economy, while cutting businesses
taxes grows the economy. The University of Calgary’s Dr. Bev Dahlby estimates that every extra dollar raised from the corporate income
tax costs the economy $3.39. So, you raise a buck, an
incremental buck in business taxes, but the economy loses $3.40. And that’s much higher, by the way, than the marginal cost of
raising an extra dollar through personal income tax, which she estimates at about $1.80. In other words, taxing job-creators is nearly twice as damaging to the economy as raising personal taxes, but of course the NDP did that too. Dr. Ergete Ferede and
Dr. Dahlby also found that for 1% cut in the business tax rate, excuse me, that a 1% cut
in the business tax rate boosts the economy by as much as .2% of gross domestic product. That means jobs, friends. That means higher wages. Now, here’s a fun one. I’m going through all the
NDP predictable attacks, ’cause all they really
have left right now, I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, all they’ve really got left is announcing billions of dollars of new deficit spending at our expense, advertising at the expense of taxpayers to the tune of millions of dollars, and attacking their opposition. So, here’s the next attack message: They’ll have the chutzpah to say that we can’t afford
to reduce taxes on employers. Really? A government that just made
the largest expenditure in Alberta history, nearly $4 billion for a
three-year rail car lease to do something that the private
sector was already doing, is going to lecture us
about fiscal responsibility? A government that wasted $2 billion by breaking contracts
with power producers? A government that is spending $200 million on laundry machines because
they think only civil servants know how to do hospital laundry? That government is going to tell us that we can’t afford to bring investment and jobs back to Alberta with a tax cut that will stimulate growth? Friends, they could not be more wrong. We cannot afford not to take bold action to get Alberta’s economy back to work. Either we do so– Go ahead.
(audience applauding) Either we do so, and don’t
worry, I’m coming to an end here. Either we do so by bringing investment and jobs back to Alberta or we continue to face economic
decline and stagnation, as more Albertans lose their jobs, their homes, and their hope. The NDP’s choice is to play the politics of resentment and division, but our choice is to
act, to grow, to build. That is why we will pass
the Job Creation Tax Cut and all of these other
commonsense policies, because we Albertans
refuse to preside over the gradual economic
decline of our province. We refuse to be the first generation that leaves the next generation worse off than the Alberta that we inherited. (audience applauding) And so, if Albertans
give us their confidence, we will work every day without relent to get Alberta back to work, to be the best place in
North America to live, to work, to start a business,
to achieve your potential, to raise a family, an Alberta
that is strong and free. Thank you very much. (audience applauding)

The prairies have little in common with the rest of Canada. We are treated like the unwanted dirty bastard child. Canada is happy to take our money but keep us under their heel. It is time to leave Canada.

I had a successful home renovations business in Edmonton. I just shut the doors last year and had to lay of ten of my employees. All my employees had families and most of them have still not found work. I'm now struggling to even find work to keep myself going and I'm probably going to lose my house. This is pure insanity.

The real truth Internet bill and a Hydro bill you don’t pay them lights out people will struggle crazy life will become tougher life will get expensive increase tax how people can live cannot live feels like bankruptcy

$15 an hour fat business affected business and employees Which ones better reduce the minimum wage or tax credit lower taxes they’re smarter with Alberta a meant turn I’ll Burda is at ri which ones better reduce the minimum wage or tax credit lower taxes vest smarter with Alberta in Midtown Alberta is at risk right Oil crisis right now red tape all that stuff doesn’t make sense

It's like a conservative is speaking, and then a progressive rears its ugly head every so often.Alberta and Saskatchewan really need to separate, and take northern BC and northern Manitoba with us. Canada has become a footnote in history.

For God’s Sakes, Jason Kenny, you KNOW how to put Albertans back to work — VOTE for someone who IS NOT A GLOBALIST. Steven Harper was a globalistAndrew Scheer IS A GLOBALIST, Justin Trudeau IS A GLOBALIST. Maxime Bernier IS NOT A GLOBALIST. Vote for Maxime of the PPC in October 2019

Jason, we do not need more immigrants skilled or not. We Have enough skilled labour right now either unemployed or underemployed. Please put a halt to adding to the unemployed numbers in Alberta. Guaranteed you will lose support if you continue down that path.

Jason Kenney tells a lot of lies here. & ignores the drastic drop in world oil prices, that caused the recession. – Saskatchewan's economy is NOT as good as Alberta's. Not even close. – Many of the USA's states, have shitty environmental regulations. To compare their oil industry to ours, is eggs to pumpkins. Kenney is currently under investigation for multiple serious election fraud. ( Using fake emails to pad the voting for Kenney to win the UCP leadership. & his campaign staff are on an audio recording discussung that they ran a fake-meant-to -lose candidate, & used him "to draw votes off of Brian Jean, & to use him to publicly say things against Jean, that would make Kenney look bad, if he said them. A fake candidate is illegal fraud. & Kenney lied about his housing in Calgary, ( his "residence" did not exist. ) but he claimed the housing expense from the federal government. & Kenney collected his Federal MP salary while running for office in AB. If Albertans put their trust in Kenney, it'll bite us in the Ass. He is sooo biased, he cherry-picks data & stats to support his own biases. & Kenney talks a big game…yet how would he ram thru a pipeline, when the courts have very valid reasons to postpone it ? Kenney is the regressive candidate. Kenney doesn't understand why it's very dangerous & stupid to pipeline / ship bitumen. Nor, dies he get why government debt & spending is a smart move during a recession. This has made AB's economy far better than Sask's . & Sask's Premier resigned. Jason Kenney = a race to the bottom.

The worst economic slump Alta. ever had was when Prentice took over several years ago after 40 years of PC government. Kenney talks about high unemployment but the next minute about bringing immigrants into Alberta. That's typical of Kenney's decision making. Notley is working on doing more with oil in Alta…and doesn't want to stop and focus on the campaign right now. Kenney was a weak opposition leader and is now campaigning on the taxpayers dime.

I hope Jason will address in more credible detail how his government will promptly get us a new pipelines to tidewater. Court references to renegotiate transfer payments doesn’t sound like a prompt solution for ending Alberta’s land-locked status

Notley needs to be on the un-employed line, with 160 000 people who have lost their jobs already, Her buddy Trudy is committing a criminal act to protect a few jobs in Montreal, Notley, call an election already, the credit card with 80 billion dollars in the red is no longer sustainable. There’s something wrong with my gas bill, with the carbon levy being almost the same as the cost of natural gas. Can’t afford the dippers.

Try the liberal strategy to job creation, PROSTITUTION, although it's not really working well for them or SNC. lolThe more ties to Ottawa that Alberta has, the more poverty, struggle, and problems we encounter. Coincidence?Alberta can easily grow it's own economy if Ottawa wasn't siphoning off "transfer payments".Stop complicating what isn't complicated and simply get Ottawa out of Alberta.We needn't worry about whats er name in Edmonton as Alberta is almost rat free again come next provincial election.

Hey Jason, your full of crap! You want more immigration???????? Go back East with your other BS cronie polititions!!!! Seperation needs to be the focus of Alberta so we can get rid of lying pricks like you!!!

Get rid of Trudeau and all his Liberals and the NDP. If the next government doesn't improve all Of Canada, find someone else. Every province has its purpose. WE are one country not 10 countries. We all have to support and help each other. Not the third world.Close our borders except for legal immigrants. Stick the illegals on ships and ship them to wherever, who cares. They didn't fight or work to improve their own countries, they certainly won't do it here. I remember when the only disagreements were who was going to win the hockey game. Now the politicians have us fighting against each other about life and our survival. And that in a country that has everything. It's all about money and control for them.

Four years ago people were still being replaced by foreign workers that Jason Kenney brought to Canada, without proof they where needed. A deliberate act of sabotaging the Canadian worker. He should be held accountable by Alberta workers. He is a traitor and a saboteur.

Rachel Notley with the way she has run Alberta in the last 4 years has been a disaster . Yes I voted for NDP and will never do that again . This NDP leader is not even as capable as a good monkey would be.

… MORE IMMIGRANTS ? … ten-thousand new immigrants to rural Alberta?Jason Kenny, You just lost my Friend's, & Families Vote!Looks like us Albertans are really screwed now?* Alberta must separate from Canada *https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ-8tXTdfMQ

And YOU Sir came out the other day saying you are going to ask the Federal Government to increase immigration to Alberta!! Why don't you look after Albertans first I am so sick of paying for immigration . It used to be if you wanted to immigrate you applied for and received a VISA if you qualified , and you paid your own way!! How dare you offer my my hard paid tax dollars to support immigrants when those same dollars can and should be used to support Albertans!!

All Albertans need to do is look around . All you see is people driving around and sitting at Tim Hortons. No there is no jobs. It's been dead for a long time. Albertans have been totally rejected since Trudeau. We need to separate from federal government. Join Saskatchewan and make us great again. Farm Team and oil team. We are the muscles of Canada period. Tip your hats to the real power in Canada. ?

Manitoba used to live under the NDP government. In the early 2000s, the cost of property tax went up, the highest income bracket paid 46% of income taxes, police funding was cut, and Winnipeg became the murder Capital of Canada in 2003. I urgently ask Alberta to vote the UCP and not follow the mistake of our past. The Conservatives has changed Manitoba for the better. Ubisoft, Boeing, and other corporations have now made Winnipeg home thanks to the Manitoba Conservative party.

Not a big fan of the usa style of the right to work you want to implement. I feel it will just start a race to the bottom for construction workers for non union and union workers! How about a alberta first program builders must use alberta trade workers and companies before out of province shops taking our jobs and paying their workers less

Don't do it Albertans. I'm in Ontario and immigration has destroyed this province. They have sucked programs like community housing and Ontario works try to the bare bone. Do not fall for ''mass immigration'' policies to fix your economic problems. IF you have Ontario level immigration you will see the most reduced quality life and crime like you have never been prepared for before in your life.

I am not an Albertan but a proud Canadian who only invests in Canadian stocks. I invested in several oil and gas stocks and what a cluster F that was. I sold a few at a massive loss, and this was after their share prices had already been cut in half. I don't think a bum off the street could have done more destruction than the NDP and federal Liberals have to your industry. Bad news after bad news , it was like a freight train that never stopped. The cancelling of several pipeline projects and the persistent stalling of the others by Indigenous and hippies while Mr Dressup sits by idly and does nothing. The WCS and Edmonton light differentials . The election of the NDP and Greenies in BC. The raising of taxes and the carbon tax . The interference by ecoterrorists funded by American " charities" . Now the prospect of bills C-48 and C-69. Please folks, GET RID OF the NDP in Alberta and then take the Liberals out to the trash. This is going to take a decade to fix even if we start right now.

Alberta still has the lowest taxes in the country. And no PST. How will lowering taxes even more make any difference? How will you balance the budget with lower tax revenue without cutting healthcare spending as you've promised? How can you get pipelines built where the NDP failed? How will you streamline the regulatory process without sacrificing oversight? HOW are these things going to be accomplished?

Kenney's vision for Alberta is to Islamize the province with mass Muslim immigration, and he talks about "do no harm"! A politician for 25 years and who now thinks like the Liberal Party of Canada, Kenney needs to retire from politics, and do something useful for a change.

We as Albertans and Saskatchewens need to unite as one. Time to say goodbye to the rest. We are the powerhouse provinces we don't need Ottawa. Pay our taxes in house. If we do we will have more jobs , more respect , stronger communities , quality living versus nothing. Time to join up and separate. ?

Tax Cuts will lead to HUGE GOVERNMENT DEBT! KENNEY is a HARPER FOOL. We are going back to the Harper days. NO NEW JOBS were created when Harper did identically the same thing. Everything that Kenney preaches is a LIE. Do your own research…search: Does cutting taxes create jobs? NEVER…Alberta is getting sucked in!